Infant&#39;s chair



Feb. 18, 1958 e. N. ERIKSEN INFANT'S CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed. March18, 1955 FIG4.

INVENTOR GEORGE N. [RI KSEN ATTYS.

G. N. ERIKSEN INFANTS CHAIR Feb. 18

2 Sheet et 2 Filed March 18, 1955 GEORGE N, EN BY W United States PatentINFANTS CHAIR George N. Eriksen, Wilmington, Del.

Application March 18, 1955, Serial No. 495,266

1 Claim. (Cl. 155-491) This invention relates to a chair which has beenconceived and developed especially for use of infants between the agesof one month and seven months, and in which the infant may rest andobserve his surroundings without the inconvenience of lying prone or thephysical injury which might ensue from support in a fully seatedposition.

A primary object has been to provide a chair support for the infantwhich gives him the opportunity to exercise his native curiosity, whilefully protecting his back from injury.

A further object is to provide a chair or crib having an upwardlydirected, infant supporting, pocket-like chamber of adequate size andshape to permit an infant laid on its back in said chamber to liecomfortably and to exercise by kicking, twisting and squirming in anormal manner, said chair or crib being of such a shape as to preventsuch an infant from falling or rolling out of the same.

A further object has been to provide a chair for very young infantshaving this basic advantage, in which the chair is constructed as asystem of panels which can be very easily and rapidly assembled ordisassembled for convenience in movement from one location to another,or for storage.

A further object has been to provide a system of fabrication and designby which the chair may be produced very economically.

Still further objects and advantages and the manner in which they havebeen attained will be evident from reading of the following detaileddescription in the light of the attached drawing, in which,

Figure l is a perspective view of the chair of the invention,

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the chair,

Figure 3 is a plan view,

Figure 4 is a cross-section on the line 4--4 of Figure 2,

Figure 5 is a cross-section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4, and,

Figure 6 is a perspective view illustrating the chair at an intermediatestage of the act of assembly.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the chair consists basically of four panelelements, a back panel 10, a front panel 11, and side panels 12 and 13.These side panels are adapted to rest upon the floor or other support attheir lower ends, and they form with the front and back panels aconfined space or pocket 24 in which the infant may be placed withoutdanger of falling out.

The respective panels may be formed of any suitable material, such aswood, plastic or metal, and they are provided with inter-engaging slidesand channels to facilitate their assembly and disassembly with respectto each other simply and rapidly. To this end, each of the side panelsmay be provided with a pair of channels for supporting the front andback panels between them, the front panel 11 resting at its oppositeedges within and between channels 14 and 15 established at the innersides, respectively, of side panels 12 and 13, and the back panel 10resting similarly between channels 16 and 17. These channels may besecured to the inner surfaces of the associated side panels by screws 18as illustrated. Slides 19, 20, 21 and 22 may be secured by screws 23 tothe opposite sides, respectively, of front and back panels 11 and 10, sothat the parts may be assembled very simply by intersliding movement,these parts being illustrated in Figure 6 at an intermediate stage ofthis sliding movement by which they are assembled. If we regard thebases of the back and front panels 10 and 11 as their lowest points, itwill be seen that they provide a supporting apex at this base or pointof intersection, and that the panel 10 extends rearwardly and upwardlyfrom this base at an angle which is preferably between 30 and 45 withrespect to the horizontal, while the front panel 11 extends forwardlyand upwardly from this base at an angle to the horizontal which is alsopreferably between 30 and 45. Thus, when an infant is laid in this chairwith his back resting against the panel 10 and his buttocks and legsresting against panel 11, he will have an opportunity to observe hissurroundings while at the same time being supported in a semirecliningposition in which his back suffers no damage.

From the foregoing discussion, it will be apparent that I have provideda chair which fulfills each of the objects of the invention as outlinedabove. This chair may be modified or refined in various ways withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention, however, and I thereforewish to have it understood that this invention is not to be limited ininterpretation except by the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

In an infants chair, in combination, a pair of spaced, parallel,substantially vertical side panels constituting opposite sides of thechair and providing legs for said chair; a back planar panel removablysecured at its opposite side edges to both of said side panels and extending from its lower end rearwardly and upwardly at an angle to thehorizontal of between 30 and 45; and a front planar panel also removablysecured at its opposite side edges to both of said side panels andextending from its lower end forwardly and upwardly at an angle to thehorizontal of between 30 and 45"; said four panels when so secured,forming a complete chair of a crib-like nature; the lower ends of saidback and front panels meeting substantially at the base of the chair andat a point substantially midway between the front and rear ends of saidside panels; said back and front panels being at an obtuse angle to eachother and forming with said side panels and upwardly-opening,infant-supporting, pocket-like chamber of adequate size to permit aninfant laid on its back in said chamber to lie comfortable and toexercise by kicking, twisting and squirming in a normal manner, but theangularity of said back and front panels together with the high sidesprovided by said side panels preventing such an infant from falling orrolling out of the chair.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS

